Activists, victims kin hail Naroda verdict

"Since the verdict has come out today itself, we will have to study it. We thought that the case stood strongly against about 45 people. If we still think so after reading the judgement then we shall appeal again. But today we want to say that we are relieved. After so much of hard work and threats, till last night our victims were receiving threats. They reside in the same area of Naroda Patiya and did not leave, and they got justice. This is a major achievement in our quest for justice," Setalvad added.

The kith and kin of the victims also expressed their satisfaction over the verdict and stated that guilty deserved to be punished severely.

Image: Former Gujarat minister and a member of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Maya Kodnani, right, is escorted to prison in a police vehicle after a court verdict in a 2002 religious violence case, in Ahmadabad, India, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.